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puckrobinYes, it's another post on comic books. (Which means it's probably of more interest to people doing a Google Blog search than my regular readers.)
One of my favourite comic book characters of all time is the original Captain Marvel. (If you grew up in the 1970s and aren't a total comics geek, you'd probably mistakenly know him as Shazam.) First appearing in Whiz Comics #2 (which was pretty much the first issue) in 1939/1940, Captain Marvel's alter ego is young homeless orphan named Billy Batson. Billy is led into an abannoned subway station where he encounters an old wizard named Shazam. The dying wizard asks Billy to say his name, and the child is transformed into adult superhero Captain Marvel.
Shazam stands for the gods/heroes who grant the super powers:
Solomon - Wisdom
Hercules - Strength
Atlas - Stamina
Zeus - Power
Achilles - Courage
Mercury - Speed
Although fairly traditional at first, Captain Marvel's adventures soon embraced a sense of whimsy introducing a whole Marvel Family, a talking tiger, an evil super genius worm and more. And it was this sense of fun instilled by the original creators such as C.C. Beck that made Captain Marvel, "the Big Red Cheese", outsell Superman. Yes, during the 1940s, Captain Marvel was more popular than the Man of Steel. You can bet that National (aka DC) Comics wasn't happy about that. So, Superman's publishers sued Captain Marvel's publishers, pointing out that a caped hero with super strength and the power of flight wasn't exactly a new concept. It was a titanic legal battle, and when superhero comics stopped selling as well as they once had, Fawcett Comics just settled and stopped publishing Captain Marvel in 1953.
In the 1960s, the company once known as Timely and Atlas started calling itself Marvel Comics, and soon published their own Captain Marvel as soon as the trademark was available. This is why all comic covers, toys and TV shows featuring the original Captain Marvel are now known by the wizard's name/Billy's magic word "Shazam!" (Marvel Comics keeps trying out different versions of Captain Marvel. They usually don't sell, but there's no way Marvel Comics will ever let the trademark go back to the original character.)
In 1972/3, DC Comics (yes, the folks who sued "the Big Red Cheese" into retirement) licenced the original Captain Marvel, and even brought back some of the classic creators. Unfortunately, times had changed, and the 1970s Cap stories felt like brainless pastiches of the original. Fortunately, the 1970s was also the era of reprint books, and so I got to read some of the original 1940s and 1950s stories.
In 1986, Captain Marvel was fully encorporated into the world of other DC Comics heroes. It was an odd fit, and comics creators have spend two decades doing Cap revivals trying to figure out how much whimsy should remain. Sometimes they come off as cold homages to the original greatness, and other times like the current Trials of Shazam comic, they went dark, stripped away anything that made Cap different and added nothing original to fill the void.
But I'm not the only fan of the original Captain Marvel. Jeff Smith, creator of the enormously popular Bone comics, has just published his own revival of Cap, Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil (re-using the title from a very popular 1940s storyline). The first issue just came out yesterday. And it hit me like a lightning bold from the old wizard. Finally, someone gets it.
It feels alive and fresh -- completely of today. And yet, Smith's Cap has all the charm, whimsy and heart that the classic Cap always had. Rather than fitting in with every other superhero comic out there, Smith approaches it more like a children's fantasy book. After all, a down-on-his-luck orphan boy encountering a wizard and developing magic powers is hardly an unpopular idea in the world of children's literature, is it?
If DC Comics has any brains at all, they'll make a deal with Scholastic Books (who republished Smith's Bone series) and market this thing to kids. I mean no kid is going to wander into a comic book store. Have you seen those places? They make the porn stores and head shops look wholesome by comparison. So many people in the comics industry are kvetching about how comics no longer appeal to kids. Well, here's the answer. It doesn't talk down to kids like most "kids" comics do (such as the 1970s Shazam series). This is kids lit that adults can love. Perfect!
I'm also happy to see that Smith re-established the notion that Cap and Billy are two separate people, just trading places, as it was in the Golden Age. Most of post-1986 revivals show Cap as being Billy in an adult body with added wisdom. Smith also intriguingly implies that Cap had hosts prior to Billy, and with Cap's lapses in memory, I expect a very interesting take on Black Adam coming up. (Black Adam was Cap's evil predecessor, who abused his powers in ancient Egypt.)
Some of my favourite stuff was the portrayal of the Rock of Eternity (the wizard's home) being at the Big Bang, and Billy putting his footprints in creation. It felt fun, magical ... not the codified, pseudo-sci-fi portrayal of magic so common in modern fantasy fiction.
Hurrah, Jeff Smith! Thanks for finally giving Captain Marvel the comic he deserves!
Allen
One of my favourite comic book characters of all time is the original Captain Marvel. (If you grew up in the 1970s and aren't a total comics geek, you'd probably mistakenly know him as Shazam.) First appearing in Whiz Comics #2 (which was pretty much the first issue) in 1939/1940, Captain Marvel's alter ego is young homeless orphan named Billy Batson. Billy is led into an abannoned subway station where he encounters an old wizard named Shazam. The dying wizard asks Billy to say his name, and the child is transformed into adult superhero Captain Marvel.
Shazam stands for the gods/heroes who grant the super powers:
Solomon - Wisdom
Hercules - Strength
Atlas - Stamina
Zeus - Power
Achilles - Courage
Mercury - Speed
Although fairly traditional at first, Captain Marvel's adventures soon embraced a sense of whimsy introducing a whole Marvel Family, a talking tiger, an evil super genius worm and more. And it was this sense of fun instilled by the original creators such as C.C. Beck that made Captain Marvel, "the Big Red Cheese", outsell Superman. Yes, during the 1940s, Captain Marvel was more popular than the Man of Steel. You can bet that National (aka DC) Comics wasn't happy about that. So, Superman's publishers sued Captain Marvel's publishers, pointing out that a caped hero with super strength and the power of flight wasn't exactly a new concept. It was a titanic legal battle, and when superhero comics stopped selling as well as they once had, Fawcett Comics just settled and stopped publishing Captain Marvel in 1953.
In the 1960s, the company once known as Timely and Atlas started calling itself Marvel Comics, and soon published their own Captain Marvel as soon as the trademark was available. This is why all comic covers, toys and TV shows featuring the original Captain Marvel are now known by the wizard's name/Billy's magic word "Shazam!" (Marvel Comics keeps trying out different versions of Captain Marvel. They usually don't sell, but there's no way Marvel Comics will ever let the trademark go back to the original character.)
In 1972/3, DC Comics (yes, the folks who sued "the Big Red Cheese" into retirement) licenced the original Captain Marvel, and even brought back some of the classic creators. Unfortunately, times had changed, and the 1970s Cap stories felt like brainless pastiches of the original. Fortunately, the 1970s was also the era of reprint books, and so I got to read some of the original 1940s and 1950s stories.
In 1986, Captain Marvel was fully encorporated into the world of other DC Comics heroes. It was an odd fit, and comics creators have spend two decades doing Cap revivals trying to figure out how much whimsy should remain. Sometimes they come off as cold homages to the original greatness, and other times like the current Trials of Shazam comic, they went dark, stripped away anything that made Cap different and added nothing original to fill the void.
But I'm not the only fan of the original Captain Marvel. Jeff Smith, creator of the enormously popular Bone comics, has just published his own revival of Cap, Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil (re-using the title from a very popular 1940s storyline). The first issue just came out yesterday. And it hit me like a lightning bold from the old wizard. Finally, someone gets it.
It feels alive and fresh -- completely of today. And yet, Smith's Cap has all the charm, whimsy and heart that the classic Cap always had. Rather than fitting in with every other superhero comic out there, Smith approaches it more like a children's fantasy book. After all, a down-on-his-luck orphan boy encountering a wizard and developing magic powers is hardly an unpopular idea in the world of children's literature, is it?
If DC Comics has any brains at all, they'll make a deal with Scholastic Books (who republished Smith's Bone series) and market this thing to kids. I mean no kid is going to wander into a comic book store. Have you seen those places? They make the porn stores and head shops look wholesome by comparison. So many people in the comics industry are kvetching about how comics no longer appeal to kids. Well, here's the answer. It doesn't talk down to kids like most "kids" comics do (such as the 1970s Shazam series). This is kids lit that adults can love. Perfect!
I'm also happy to see that Smith re-established the notion that Cap and Billy are two separate people, just trading places, as it was in the Golden Age. Most of post-1986 revivals show Cap as being Billy in an adult body with added wisdom. Smith also intriguingly implies that Cap had hosts prior to Billy, and with Cap's lapses in memory, I expect a very interesting take on Black Adam coming up. (Black Adam was Cap's evil predecessor, who abused his powers in ancient Egypt.)
Some of my favourite stuff was the portrayal of the Rock of Eternity (the wizard's home) being at the Big Bang, and Billy putting his footprints in creation. It felt fun, magical ... not the codified, pseudo-sci-fi portrayal of magic so common in modern fantasy fiction.
Hurrah, Jeff Smith! Thanks for finally giving Captain Marvel the comic he deserves!
Allen
